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Concept and Planning
BBRS is based on a clearly structured and distinctive planning vision: a ring that has a diameter of 55 kilometres, a length of 178 kilometres and a width of 4 kilometres and that is designed to accommodate all future urban and landscape development in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region. The urban centres of economic, social, and cultural activity of this polycentric model are located at the intersections of the ring axis with the radial railway lines and the streets of Berlin’s historic star-shaped settlement structure. The Ring City model described here represents an alternative to urban sprawl and the simultaneous migration to rural areas. The concentration of urban growth along the ring or periphery enables the creation of a clear city edge, for both Berlin proper and the growing Ring City. The model shields the inner landscape between central Berlin and the Ring City from further urban sprawl and ensures the preservation of the surrounding Brandenburg landscape.

A further advantage of the ring model is the system’s high level of flexibility, which allows the development and implementation of long-term scenarios. The first step to this end should be to incorporate this concept in a BBRS master plan, which ought to include precise and binding planning requirements. These include designating the individual city fragments and landscape units which define the backbone and the structure of the Ring City: the Parkway, Gaps, Large Structures, Nodes, Islands, and Transit Landscapes. The further development and local planning of the Parkway, its residential and commercial areas, as well as of the open spaces, can subsequently be carried out by the public planning authorities and specialist planners based on the comprehensive master plan.

For the planning process, close cooperation between the urban and regional authorities with respect to the entire metropolitan region is necessary and should be accompanied and overseen by the appropriate individuals or entities at the various levels and in the specific areas. These include Brandenburg’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Planning (MIL), Ministry of Agriculture, Environment, and Climate Protection (MLUK), and Ministry of Economy, Labour, and Energy (MWAE); Berlin’s Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing (SenSW) and Senate Department for Environment, Transport, and Climate Protection (SenUVK); and representatives of the Berlin-Brandenburg Joint Regional Planning Department. The BBRS master plan should also be integrated into the joint planning instrument of the ­Berlin-Brandenburg Development Plan (Landesentwicklungsplan Hauptstadtregion, LEP HR). Multi-disciplinary teams of experts made up of, among others, urban planners, architects, landscape architects, traffic planners, and environmental planners, should design land use and development plans at the municipal level with the involvement of the local population.

Discussion and Integration
The planning processes mentioned above must be united in a body that ensures fruitful communication among all involved parties and the development of a mutually acceptable implementation concept decided on by the demo­cratic processes. The format of the International Building Exhibitions (IBA) for the development of new planning methods for urban and re­gional development has proven itself worthy time and again. Since the IBA Emscher Park (1989–1999) and IBA Fürst-Pückler-Land (2000–2010), planning-design issues and instruments for the structural change of entire regions have been developed and ecological, social, and economic issues addressed. In ­Berlin-Brandenburg the IBAs of 1957 and 1987 were of great importance. The experience with the International Garden Exhibition (IGA) 2017 ­Berlin-Marzahn and the Federal Garden Show (BUGA) 2001 in Potsdam are similar examples in the field of landscape design. The conception, integration, and communication processes successfully executed at many IBAs in recent decades can also be applied here. This would involve continuing and developing such experience and integrating new digital possibilities for an IBA Berlin-Brandenburg.

In addition to an IBA project advisory board at the administrative level, the involvement of regional, national, and international experts is recommended. This can be done through an IBA advisory board, although other theme specific approaches are also conceivable, such as planning workshops or archi­tecture and landscape architecture competitions. Valuable partners could include the universities in the metropolitan region, the architectural associations of Berlin and Brandenburg, the German Academy for Urban Development and Regional Planning Berlin-Brandenburg, and the Future Berlin Foundation. Concrete suggestions for innovative forms of housing or the designing of areas in which to work, do business and dwell could be developed in an IBA Berlin-Brandenburg. An International Garden Show (IGA) could ex­emplify the possibilities for the development of open space, including future goals concerning recreation sites, sustainable agricultural production, and the preservation of valuable landscape elements. A specific aim of the BBRS, for example, could be to start a collective brainstorming process for reviving older identity-endowing symbols in the Ring City among political decision-­makers, municipal and urban planning agencies, specialist planners, and the local population. Another could be to develop new concepts for areas that were formerly used for military or industrial purposes.

Realisation and Coordination
In the implementation of this project, it is vital that all important planning projects meet the requirements of the master plan. Examples include those dedicated to land use, transport routes, dwellings, utilities, and industrial areas. To this end, a superordinate planning coordination body with particular powers should be established. Similar coordination efforts would also be conceivable; for instance, the supplemental oversight of Berlin’s urban renewal over the past 30 years by the Berlin Senate and its authorities. Funds from federal and state governments, as well as support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), could be obtained to finance and market BBRS. A team of economists and marketing specialists in the planning coordination office would be desirable for these projects. It would also be possible to enlist the services of a public operating company, similar to the state-owned ­Grün-­Berlin group, which is responsible for the planning, implementation, and operation of several public green spaces in Berlin, and most for recently the IGA 2017 Berlin-Marzahn.

In the initial planning stage, existing centres located at the intersections of the star-shaped settlement arteries and the Ring City should be strengthened and new comparable locations created. It is important to define hierarchies and functional focal points together; to find a balance between cities of higher and lower importance; and to achieve an appropriate distribution of the catalysts for economic and cultural activity over the entire Ring City. In the following stages, the gradual expansion of residential, work, and recreational districts would take place. As would the gradual networking of the landscapes along transit and transport routes to superordinate green corridors. This would culminate in the creation of an extensive system of parks in the metro­polis. A joint, cross-state, and interdisciplinary discourse involving all parties engaged in the concept and planning, as well as the use of superordinate planning bodies for its implementation, is indispensable for the successful realisation of Berlin Brandenburg Ring City BBRS.

One such road is the European route E30, which runs from Ireland to Great Britain, through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Belarus to Omsk in Russia. In our design, this road serves as a conceptual development axis for the region. The development of the surrounding areas and towns, which have the potential to become new local centres, is of fundamental importance. The local centres, in turn, can become local agglomerations with nearby settlements and thus form a stable system of efficiently located and economically interconnected areas. These areas could be combined by developing industrial, cultural, social and labour relations, as well as social and technical infrastructures (when possible), and shared land resources. This naturally implies, among other things, the development of a coordinated multi-modal transport network with a focus on public transport (at the level of regional and local agglomerations) and of a pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in cities and settlements.

In accordance with the competition stipulations, we selected three sub-areas for comprehensive development from the 10 suggested topics:
Housing construction to the east of the city: Köpenicker Chaussee (Berlin)
Renovation of Potsdam’s Centre East district (Berlin-Brandenburg)
The creation and expansion of a new regional centre: ‘Airea’ (Aero City), which is adjacent to the east–west development axis (Berlin-Brandenburg)

Sub-area 1
In our selection of a sub-area in Berlin, we were guided by open-access data on development plans for the urban districts. Our idea was to choose an area that has no development plans (or none that is officially sanctioned) and the prerequisites for creating a mixed-use urban environment that offers comfortable living conditions and, where possible, the construction of diverse types of housing. The concept respects the current planning structure with existing road network and its cultural heritage. The historic buildings are to be converted into community centres (centres of activity), including commercial markets, cultural centres, and such. New residential areas are created by a network of green and attractive transport and pedestrian connections. The well-equipped waterfront with a marina and open spaces for commercial markets and public events will be the main draw for residents and visitors. The concept envisages the residential area as containing different types of housing (from apartment buildings to individual townhouses) and related facilities.

Sub-area 2
The Centre East (Zentrum Ost) district is located on the edge of Potsdam city centre between Potsdam Central Station and Nutheschnellstrasse expressway. This area stretches along the Havel and borders Nuthepark and the celebrated Park Babelsberg. We see great potential for development in the ­Centre East. The redevelopment of this residential area will help meet the growing need for housing in the region (by increasing living space and introducing a variety of dwelling types). It will also have a positive effect on investment in urban development and promote the creation of a new settlement that is integrated into urban fabric. These things will improve the quality of the urban environment and offer new opportunities for further investment in the city. In addition, the redeveloped residential area will be a source of additional tax revenue (property taxes and income taxes). The project presents a proposal for the renewal of the district. A gradual development, together with a considerate and sustainable adjustment of the planning structure, will ulti­mately enable the creation of a self-sufficient urban environment. This area will be ­characterised by a strong social infrastructure, numerous functions, green spaces, and a successful symbiosis between the built environment and undeveloped open space.

Sub-area 3
This concept proposes the development of the area between the A10 motorway (part of European route E30) and the southern border of Berlin. The area comprises the municipalities of Blankenfelde-Mahlow and Schönefeld, including the BER International Airport, which is currently under construction. The municipalities have good transport links to the city centre, land reserves for new buildings, and potential for development thanks to existing natural and recreation areas. The flight paths of the new airport and the water-treatment facilities in Wassmannsdorf must be factored in, and this results in significant planning restrictions for the area’s development. A new local centre, Airea, is part of the proposed development concept for the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region along the east–west planning axis (A10 motorway). The centre will consist of three smaller centres.

The first small centre is Schönefeld (the gateway to Berlin), a mixed-use area. It includes office and administrative centres with subsidiaries of international companies; residential areas (including rental apartments) and associated infrastructures and hotels; goods distribution hubs; and eco-friendly production complexes.

The second small centre is the district of Großziethen. It will become a new residential area that borders the Berlin districts of Lichtenrade, Buckow, and Rudow. The area is to contain low-rise buildings and detached houses, thereby seamlessly adjoining Berlin’s urban fabric.

The third small centre will be the district of Dahlewitz + Groß Kienitz, a multi­functional residential area that is to be established within the existing settlements of Dahlewitz and Groß Kienitz. The area between the two towns, which is to be the site of the ‘Airea’ (Aero City), has a number of exceptional features. These include its proximity to the A10 motorway and thus the E30; good transport links to the airport and to the centre (Dahlewitz railway station); production facilities (Rolls-Royce Deutschland) and goods distribution hubs; and abundant recreation areas, such as the Groß Kienitz golf course. These are a good basis for creating a balanced urban environment that offers a compact, diverse, and comfortable lifestyle. The availability of work and recreation districts within walking distance of each other, as well as diverse types of housing and well-developed social infrastructures, make this area attractive to both current and future residents.

Our predictions and suggestions are based on an analysis of the location’s history, the current situation, and our professional knowledge. We are convinced that in each subsequent phase, additional studies should be carried out that correspond to that specific phase of the project’s development. In the future, it will be important that a detailed assessment of the economic and urban development potential, including socio-cultural research, is carried out for each of these areas so that a comprehensive list of restrictions, development requirements, and needs can be compiled. This will provide the oppor­tunity to draft a usage programme and a concept for the area’s development, since these are the most important core data for further planning. We hope our visions and development principles for the Berlin-Brandenburg region, and in particular for the three sub-areas described here, will receive interest and support, and that qualitative transformations of the region and city will soon begin.

We have restored the separation of city and countryside. We have found a way to divide the city and countryside: by separating and connecting the landscapes. Landscapes are characterised externally. Within cities, landscapes appear as city-bound outside spaces. Beyond and between cities, landscapes appear as landscape-bound outside spaces. The borders of the cities have been redrawn. Cities do not stop at their borders; their essence begins there. The borders of the landscapes have been redrawn. The landscapes do not stop at the borders; their essence begins there.

A city consists of neighbourhoods. These are are mixed, independent ­areas predominantly shaped by interior spaces, and are appropriately scaled. Neighbourhoods also have borders. City-bound outside spaces can appear within neighbourhoods or as borders between them. Several neighbourhoods form a district, several districts a city, and several cities a metropolis. Cities are red; landscapes are blue. The metropolis is a constellation of cities.

The old city no longer knew any transitions between city and countryside. The landscapes were increasingly usurped. The old city had lost its structure. A new phenomenon emerges: nature connects the cities – landscape. Landscapes separate the cities and towns. The periphery has become a city, the ‘intermediate city’ a landscape, the urban landscape a city or a landscape. The areas characterised by trade, industry, and suchlike have disappeared. These districts have become landscapes or neighbourhoods; they have become a city, the city as an amalgamation. The cities are increasing located within the newly drawn borders. They keep their distance from one another. The landscapes move in and through them. The cities are becoming denser so that the landscapes can grow. The landscapes increase within the new borders: more landscape, more city! A city reveals the shape of its landscape, the districts the characters of their city, the neighbourhoods the atmospheres of their districts. The district has an appropriate scale. The districts are manageable. The city is liveable.

I/VIII Metropolis and II/VIII Cities and Landscapes
The red and blue plan presents a phenomenological mapping of ­spaces. It shows the spatial differentiation as well as the connection between architecture, city, and countryside. By showing topological and typological foundations that subsequently determine the analytical and conceptual prerequisites for the design, the process can be described and understood as a method and as an instrument. This is where the design of the landscapes and the cities with their districts, neighbourhoods, squares and streets, courtyards, rooms and paths, and apertures, begins…

The red and blue plan presents a phenomenological mapping of ­spaces. It shows the spatial differentiation as well as the connection between architecture, city, and countryside. By showing topological and typological foundations that subsequently determine the analytical and conceptual prerequisites for the design, the process can be described and understood as a method and as an instrument. This is where the design of the landscapes and the cities with their districts, neighbourhoods, squares and streets, courtyards, rooms and paths, and apertures, begins…

Architectural spaces, or interiors, defined by the structural boundaries of walls – for example, apertures, rooms, courtyards, streets and squares – are classified as ‘warm’ spaces and are generally shown in red. Landscape- and city-bound exterior spaces – areas marked by their vastness, openness, and ‘emptiness’ – are not architectural spaces. They appear on the map in blue as ‘cold’ spaces. Examples include landscapes, parks, settlements, streets, railway lines, and brownfield sites. They are generally categorised as ‘cold’ spaces and represented in blue.

Red signifies city-bound interior spaces. The different tones of red reflect the degree of enclosure (dark and medium red) and possible extensions (light red). Blue: Landscape and city-bound outside spaces are represented by shades of blue. Areas that can no longer be expanded or eliminated are represented in dark blue. Lines represent ‘passive’ borders, such as infrastructures, bodies of water, and so on.

III/III Metropolitan Typology
Although the ideography of Stella (I and II) is characterised by the romantic (i.e. fantastical) idea of a ‘city of cities’, its exemplary elaborations (III to VIII) follow the rational (i.e. reasonable) idea of a metropolitan typology that accounts for the new scale of the future metropolis with a generic character.

We can only counter the argument that this ideography is much too optimistic in an idealistic manner. And we can only counter the argument that this typology is too pessimistic in realistic manner. Yet it is precisely this ambivalence between fantasy and reason that defines the idea, programme, and concept of Stella. Therefore, from the outset we did not to look for the three locations for possible interventions, but first devised three metropolitan typologies and only then looked for the appropriate locations for their implementation…

III.I. The Porous Monolith as a Vertical Neighbourhood: Kreuzberg
The density in the city of cities steadily increases, even in the older neighbourhoods. For the few districts that remained open, laws were overridden, dimensions increased, and new plans drawn up. The initial resistance to this was gradually dissipated and settled through politically initiated participatory processes. According to the Metropolitan typology, monolithic buildings [about 211 metres tall] appear as standalone hybrid structures. General facilities related to housing, care, employment, education, culture, sport, mobility, etc. were inscribed in the functional disposition of the typology. Seen in relation to the ‘urban capacity’ of a smaller district, the further consumption of land was deemed justifiable. Such monoliths are part of the public and private spaces of the city, the city of spaces. In the red and blue maps of Stella, their forms appear in red, as they are generally defined by their interiors. Mono­lithic structures embody the new scale of the metropolis.

III.II. The Assembled Towers and the Open Field: Tempelhof
The fragmented and discontinuous peripheral areas of the old city were gradually reigned in and given form – internally through streets and squares internally, and externally as fields. Many different ‘urban cultural landscapes’ were seen as these fields. The peripheries were urbanised, and the peripheries became cities. According to the Metropolitan typology, towers appear to­gether with fields. The towers outline the fields and refer back to the city with their plinth bases and block structure. The height of the towers [about 211 metres] is determined by the size of the fields. Fields are always outdoor spaces that appear as cultivated urban landscapes. Fields belong to the public, towers to the public and private space of the city, the city of spaces. In the red-blue mapping, the towers appear in red, since they are generally constituted by their interior spaces, and the fields in blue, as their design is generally constituted by their exterior spaces. Towers and fields embody the new scale of the metropolis.

III.III. The Blue Block or Urban Nature: Wartenberg
Stella could gradually overcome the apparent contrast between two tra­di­tional ideas: between a more ‘rustic’ way of life alongside and within the natural world and a more ‘urban’ lifestyle with its public streets and squares. We gave up on urban landscapes, instead separating the city and the landscape and re-joining them so they complement one another: this is the urban nature of Stella. Reflecting the Metropolitan typology, the large blocks incorporate outdoor spaces. Tall buildings define the city-bound outside spaces. The height of the buildings [around 42–84 metres] is determined by the width of the enclosed areas. Here, the enclosed ‘interior’ areas are exterior spaces and function as ‘urban cultural landscapes’. Examples of uses include cemeteries, allotment gardens, parks, forests, pastures, and meadows. Between the blocks, streets and squares seem like interior spaces. The buildings border streets and squares as well as the landscapes. The ‘interior’ enclosed ­s­paces are public, while the blocks – made up of the buildings on the borders – are the private spaces of the city, the city of spaces. In the red-blue maps of ­Stella, the houses on the edges of the blocks and the streets and squares between the blocks appear in red, since they are generally constituted by their interior spaces, and the fields in blue, as their design is generally constituted by their exterior spaces. Blue blocks embody the new scale of the metropolis.

Metropolis Berlin: the profile of Berlin city centre as the inspiring heart of a vital metropolis is heightened. An urban-climatic, socially conscious densification intensifies the urban atmosphere.

Garden Domain Brandenburg: a relationship between park, paths, and visual connections is created in the area of the outer ring road. Forests and bodies of water are enhanced, regional parks are linked, biodiversity is pro­moted, and ecologically reformed agriculture and forestry are harmoniously embedded in the Brandenburg landscape. There are expansion options for the ­Garden Domain, including existing in biosphere reserves to the northeast as a trans-­European project with Szczecin/Poland, and to the southeast towards Cottbuser Ostsee lake.

In-between City: between the metropolis and the Garden Domain, various functions and environments are possible; these are determined individually and locally, free of guidelines from above.

Elevated railway: a new elevated railway system replaces the S-Bahn and regional railway networks and provides the city and region with maximum comfort and efficiency. Other transport links are created over or along motorways and A-roads, which avoids further land consumption.

Berlin’s Historical Centre as a Sub-space: In Search of Lost Time
‘All these memories added to one another now formed a single mass, but one could still distinguish between them – between the oldest, and those that were more recent, born of a fragrance, and then those that were only memories belong to another person from whom I had learned them – if not fissures, if not true faults, at least that veining, that variegation of colouring, which in certain rocks, in certain marbles, reveal differences in origin, in age, in “formation.”’(Marcel Proust, ‘In Search of Lost Time’)

The ideological weight of Berlin’s historical centre is dispelled in favour of the primacy of its urban quality. The central and symmetrical staging of the ‘GDR capital’ is vanquished, as is the nostalgic idea of a ‘reconstruction of the old town’. Buildings worth preserving are complemented by new structures, streets, and public spaces. Buildings classified as expendable will be made available for development over time. Institutions that were once lo­cated in the historical Mitte, such as the synagogue in Rosenstrasse or the Central Market Halls around the train station at Alexanderplatz, are repurposed or reinterpreted. The TV Tower is integrated into a sculpturally coordinated high-rise ensemble. New establishments of high culture are changing the currently dull commercial atmosphere. The Garden Domain Ferries, which deli­berately have no schedule, connect the centre with the Garden Domain and offer users a chance to slow down.

The New Urban District of Tempelhofer Feld as a Sub-space: Urbanism as a Resource
More than simply satisfying predicted space requirements, which naturally fluctuate over time, the goal of this proposed new district is to further de­velop Berlin’s exciting and charismatic character: animated urbanity promotes efficiency and sustainability, social exchange and cohesion, and experimentation, as well as providing inspiration. The prerequisites for its development are the seamless linking of high-quality public spaces; the seemless connection to comfortable public transport; street-level zones suitable for retail, gas­tronomy, and other services; the conscious cultivation of the city’s public sphere and its clear demarcation from the private realm.

As in our plans for Berlin’s historical centre, we propose closed block structures and classic street and square spaces for the Tempelhofer Feld district. Strictly controlled plot sizes create a lively cityscape and allow for a mixed ownership structure. The contrasting height gradation of the new buildings permits the densification of diverse functions, atmospheres, and spatial qualities, and produces a lively and pleasant cityscape. In the spatial dialogue with the historic airport building, a new, flexible football stadium for Berlin can be built (it can be converted into a large park-side stage, made possible via sliding grandstands). In the southern section, the A100 motorway and the S-Bahn line is replaced by the new Ring Boulevard, which encircles the city centre and integrates all modes of transport in a single, spacious urban area. The centrally located Garden Domain Market Hall offers local, sustainably produced products.

The Garden Domain as a Sub-space of Brandenburg / Luisen Landscape: The Discovery of Slowness
‘Now John looked more closely at the St James clock. The dial was painted on the stone on the edge of the thick tower. There was only one hand, and it had to be advanced three times a day. John had heard a remark that linked him to the stubborn clockwork. He did not understand it, but ever since he thought the clock had something to do with him.’ (Sten Nadolny, ‘The Discovery of Slowness’)

With Berlin’s urban heart beating ever faster, a complementary counter pole of emphatic ‘slowness’ is needed. The basic idea of the Garden Domain is exemplified by an area northwest of Potsdam: the area, which is almost completely surrounded by water, is still part of Potsdam’s World Heritage and has a prevailing west wind, which is important for the ventilation and cooling of the city. Thanks to the new elevated railway over the A10, the area has good transport links and thus constitutes a steppingstone into the Garden Domain.

A peculiarity of this area is its history associated with the Paretz Palace, a former country estate: built for Friedrich Wilhelm III and Queen Luise in 1798, it was exceptionally modest for the time. The royal couple’s legendary ‘modern’ spirit is reflected in the relaxed serenity of the Havel landscape and the landscape gardens by ­Lenné. The latter adorned not only the royal palaces, but also countless larger and smaller estates in Margraviate of Brandenburg, ­places which are often subject to decay today. The concept of the Garden ­Domain includes both saving this cultural heritage from disappearing and revitalising it. In homage to its history, we propose the name ‘Luisen Landscape’ ­(Luisenlandschaft) for the Garden Domain park near Paretz.

Like the Garden Domain as a whole, Luisen Landscape includes ecological and climate-related aspects; an aesthetic dimension that includes culture, history, leisure, and relaxation; and areas for a renaissance of the small-scale vegetable and fruit cultivation that has traditionally shaped this region. A Matisse-­inspired landscape installation of lavender fields flows over the gentle topography. This imaginatively unites all three themes and forms an unmistakable landmark for the area.

A ‘Garden Domain Academy’ in the north teaches visitors about nature and the landscape. An Innovation Campus for research and development with future-oriented jobs for the region will be built directly to the east of the ele­vated railway station. Garden Domain Ferries connect the park and the Garden Domain with the city and invite visitors to rediscover slowness. Experiencing scenic beauty can prompt people to emotionally bond with places, stir an interest in nature and history, motivate engagement in efforts to promote an intact ecology, and provide a home environment worth living in.

Realisation Strategies: A Culture of Local and Personal Responsibility and ­National Lighthouse Projects
In Berlin today major projects are emerging – projects which ignore the scale of the city created during the Gründerzeit and render Berlin interchangeable with other world cities. Brandenburg’s agriculture is also becoming in­creasingly concentrated and industrialised. Razed landscapes and the devaluation of soil, water, and biodiversity have been the result. For inner cities and surrounding areas, we therefore advocate a shift back to an intelligent, small-scale approach and personal responsibility. In the new city districts, we have planned a maximum size for plots. Leasehold models can help to maintain the influence of society’s need for land use in the long term. In the surrounding area and region, we propose the return of self-rule at the village level and the division of oversized farms into manageable units.

Metropolis Berlin and Garden Domain Brandenburg make special demands that require a strong cultural awareness in society, politics, and administrations. Lighthouse projects help create impulses and shift prevailing tides. In this sense, Metropolis Berlin and Garden Domain Brandenburg could be developed as long-term national lighthouse projects: spatially limited special zones, in which a system of specific priorities prevails, and where excep­tional characteristics quickly become clear. The brighter these projects shine, the more they influence the general perception of them. In an ideal scenario, they gradually create the necessary conditions for their own success.

The Berlin-Brandenburg 2070 initiative offers the city, region, and state the opportunity to do this. The design principles outlined in this proposal represent a paradigm shift for a metropolitan region characterised by a distinct and highly revered DNA. However, the entire region suffers from unsustainable forms of development and lifestyles that require radical rethinking and redesigning.
To implement these radical ideas, new coalitions and collaborations are required. Different levels of national, state, and local governments must engage in a vision that breaks with established standards, boundaries, and jurisdictions. At the local level, residents must ensure that compromises are worthwhile before supporting the scale of the efforts and restructuring proposed by this ambitious yet feasible plan. The private sector must participate in the common civic agenda to ensure the long-term added value of its assets and investments.
New governance structures and partnerships are needed to execute the physical and design proposals that optimise the city’s existing DNA. Positive models for this already exist; for example, in London, where the Mayoral Development Corporation is helping to shape the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games over the next 40 years in an effort to correct the enduring inequalities in the city. Across the Channel, the Reinventer Paris initiative has laid down an advanced environmental and social agenda that enables the city’s mayor to carry out projects on public land that prioritise urban quality over profit. This competition proposal combines ecological principles with creative urban-development concepts. The ecological principles and design concepts presented here will allow Berlin and Brandenburg to remain recognisable in their original qualities and characteristics and also to develop and strengthen these while taking into account climate change.

Four ecological principles define this proposal. Berlin and Brandenburg can better prepare for climate change by implementing the following ecological guidelines.

1. Reducing CO2 emissions and supporting a resource-friendly, regional circular economy
2. Limiting new construction sites to pre-exiting sealed areas or plots, minimising the amount of sealed land, and creating green spaces with numerous potential uses
3. Increasing population density from the current 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants per square kilometre, improving road links between the towns outside Berlin, and improving transport systems within Brandenburg
4. Creating user-friendly transport opportunities in the region and towns by prioritising bicycle use, public transport systems, and environmentally ­friendly passenger vehicles

These guidelines result in five main design concepts, which define the implementation measures of this regional planning and urban development plan.

1. Promote a circular economy and CO2 reduction
   The countryside and cities are integrated into energy, food, water, and recycling cycles. The raw materials for new buildings grow in Brandenburg’s forests. In an area stretching from the south of Bernau to the northwest of Berlin, a new forest is emerging; it will help reduce CO2 levels. This effort is boosted in the city centre by the creation of large parks with a high proportion of trees and biologically active rainwater-harvesting systems.
2. Control the amount of sealed land and green areas
   All new construction occurs on pre-existing sealed sites, and the number of new sealings is to be severely limited in future. If possible, existing green spaces, including allotment gardens and cemeteries, are to be combined into larger, open public spaces to help reduce the heat build-up in the city centre and to promote the formation of local fresh-air corridors. Allotment gardens are to be converted into urban agricultural areas with combined work and residential use at their edges.
3. Lakes, rivers, and canals function as urban-planning elements
   By exercising the public right of first refusal, private properties along lakes and rivers are acquired to ensure public access to the water and waterways and, if feasible, to carry out the appropriate restoration of these. This supports the increased absorption of torrential rain and improves the quality of life; canals should be redesigned or created so that they can also be used by vaporetti.
4. Promote densification and higher density
   The principles of barrier-free access, a social and functional mix, and fairness will all dictate the design of both individual buildings and entire neighbourhoods, establishing strong local communities and reducing commuting. Different lifestyles will find their own spaces through the connection and overlay of living, working, and recreational activities in the immediate vicinity. In the region, new living and working space should primarily be integrated in densely populated city neighbourhoods and settlements. All housing estates are to be examined with regard to their potential for densification. This competition entry assumes that this area can accommodate an additional one million residents.
5. Expand ring roads and radials
   The car-friendly city of the twentieth century is to be transformed into a human-friendly city of the twenty-first century. For this purpose, the typical ­Berlin ‘growth rings’ are further developed and updated on a larger scale: several new growth rings from the city centre via the outskirts to the surrounding communities strengthen individual identities, and distinctive radials with urban qualities promote higher structural density in the outlying areas.

Three new ring systems expand the inner city and structure the outskirts and country.
The first is Berlin’s ring road, which is transformed into the ‘Ring Boulevard’. The A100 becomes a high-density inner-city ring road with mixed-use buildings and public facilities. New high-rises serve as landmarks and provide orientation in the city. The new, ground-level, 39-kilometre-long Ring Boulevard and the main ­radial roads with their densely built up surroundings unite the city centre with the outskirts. The ring boulevard is between 60 and 80 metres wide, planted with four rows of trees, and furnished with kiosks, bars, and cafés. It is conceived as an urban lounge that accommodates both commercial and non-commercial activities. The ring not only symbolically prevails over the east-west divide, but also over the traditional distinction between the inner city and suburbia. It invites all residents in the region to rediscover the city at street-level and to see it as an attractive public space. Along the inner ring road and the radials, tall buildings can promote densification measures and accommodate a total of one million people.
The second ring is characterised by water and bicycle paths. In the south, the Teltow Canal between Köpenick and Potsdam is to be redeveloped as a 42-kilometre-long network of paths and a densification area; as a tangent, it is connected to the regional cycle-path network. In the north, a new canal forms the counterpart to the Teltow Canal, completing the second ring.
The third ring is the A10 motorway, which is commonly regarded as the outer edge of Berlin. Within this area, the development of Berlin is to take place according to inner-city criteria (floor-space index of at least 1.5); this would require contractual agreements for the designation of buildable land and the exchange of land between Berlin and Brandenburg.
The fourth ring is Berlin’s Ringbahn circular railway (inner ring). The significance of Berlin’s ring road for the city is equal to that of this circular railway for the region. Its four-track expansion is intended to accommodate the circulation of closely timed local and regional trains. This also applies to the S-Bahn: outside of the S-Bahn ring, four-track viaducts presently accommodate freight trains. We propose using these for local and express passenger trains too. The viaducts will replace the railway embankments, reproducing the character of the S-Bahn viaducts and increasing the cross-connections and development potential. The regional stretches of the radials, S-Bahn, and U-Bahn are to be extended to create ideal transfer points on the circular railway for commuters.
The fifth ring is the Brandenburg Railway. The large Brandenburg circular ring (Berlin’s outer ring) will be closed to strengthen the independence of the surrounding region and to improve the regional network.

Brandenburg and Berlin, Districts and Boroughs, Atelier Berlin-Brandenburg
The main protagonists are now on the border, and so the planning focus shifts from the the city centre to the outskirts. For the first time, the outskirts of Berlin and communities near Berlin, as well as Brandenburg districts, are the focus of settlement planning. Thus far, it has been the growth of land in Berlin and the growing influence of building regulations that have characterised such efforts; but current projects, such as the airport or the Berlin-Brandenburg Joint Regional Planning Department, are demonstrating a coordinated development that is being studied by both sides. This positive tendency should be further developed, as the great challenge of enlivening Berlin’s outskirts can only succeed if all ‘border residents’ are included in the process on a municipal level, where the symbiosis of urban and rural qualities is cultivated together.

2030: Up to 99 Mini IBAs (International Building Exhibitions)
Out of the (up to) 99 mini IBAs emerge 99 visionary and local ‘rulebooks’, which illustrate the legislative potential with which private neighbourhoods and natural islands can develop. Instead of repressive restrictions, concessions are made to a densifying city, a process which is controlled qualitatively by promoting diversity and visual qualities. The Berlin border area is to be deli­berately ‘discovered’ and developed as a place of longing. The first step to this end is the exploration and understanding of the existing and the found. This applies to both to both pleasing natural elements and seemingly unattractive areas, such as estates of single-family homes. Nevertheless, up-to-date subjects must be purposefully formulated and implemented so the positive qualities of the outskirts are strengthened and supplemented: public spaces, sharing (also in terms of bundling), mobility, and landscape as well as micro-­nature. With the help of the existing urban-planning rules, creative additions can be made based on local phenomena, thus creating exciting and characterful neighbourhoods, city districts, and green islands. The cooperation between these entities constitutes an urban model for the future.

Qualities: (A) Promoting, (B) Creating, (C) Retaining
Module A: Retrofitting Suburbia
Neighbourhoods along the axes of the star-shaped settlement structure are strengthened and revitalised. The focus of module A is on strategies for pre-existing residential areas, such as single-family housing developments along existing infrastructure axes, in particular areas near railways and other forms of public transport. A significant consolidation is proposed here to increase usage as well as to create diversity and new connections. The large number of interested parties and owners here already render classic planning strategies ineffective. Thus, the implementation of special construction rulebooks is proposed as a supplement. These are to be developed on a regional level, are preferably not restrictive, and allow an endorsed and controlled ‘extra’.

Module B: Urban Hubs
Between the city and the surrounding area, at the intersection of high-performance infrastructures, housing and productivity: New settlement areas should increasingly take advantage of local conditions and be developed according to local aspects. Both spatial and typological inventions are appropriate if they combine a sensible housing density with the rich natural areas and formulate a new city type. How can new settlement areas can be developed according to pre-existing spatial conditions and local particulars? It is less a question of ­tabula rasa in the area around the city and more about urban development that expands on what already exists and thoughtfully condenses urbanity and nature in unison. In Berlin’s tradition of a polycentric city and today’s examples of crystallisation points beyond the city centre (Adlershof, Tesla, BER, TXL Urban Tech Republic, etc.), dense sub-centres are developed at strategically practical locations. Well-connected to railway and road networks, and in interplay with attractive landscape situations that are preserved and perceptible both spatially and typologically, these small centres benefit from inventions that combine a sensible housing density with the rich natural ­spaces to formulate a new, contemporary type of urban agglomeration. A robust, ­flexible ­urban ­development model can be ensured through the implementation of site-­specific parameters and guidelines, which are collaboratively developed in workshops, rather than by detailed development plans.

Module C: Landscape Parks
Large natural areas, controlled growth, preservation of nature in and around the city, landscape and leisure: Preservation-worthy natural spaces are designated and rendered perceptible through individual qualitative measures or are activated as productive natural landscapes.
An expansion of our legal understanding of the term ‘outside space’ allows for the preservation of ‘pure’ nature with experimental additions. Existing natural spaces are to be protected. In addition, individual qualitative measures should be considered: these would make such spaces local recreation areas and activate them as productive natural landscapes. Green spaces close to the city serve increasingly as productive natural spaces, open spaces, and recreational areas. At the same time, they are enormously important for the city’s climate, air circulation, and the preservation of/an increase in biodiversity. The newly created regional landscape parks supplement the green belt with important conservation zones and opportunities for experimental green spaces and local recreation areas for the future.

Urban Arcadia: Mobility
New connections as ring segments for a networked and polycentric outer city. The basic requirement for successful new neighbourhoods is a mix of typologies and of uses. In addition, reliable transport links to surrounding districts and areas, especially through public transport, is a decisive factor. As well as expanding existing arteries in the surrounding area, we are proposing a new railway link that would connect to existing railway lines and establish connections to other transport forms. In 2020, it is possible to offer new orbital connections on the outskirts of the city and between the existing ring lines (S-Bahn circular railway and Berliner Ring). Instead of a complete ring, there should be five key ring segments, for instance to and from the fast tram and ferry (Spree and Havel).

Urban Arcadia: Participation
Round Table 2.0/A website and app for coordinating and marking locations and plans. New players, new city! Nine Berlin districts and nine Brandenburg districts on the common state border represent a fresh start and a new understanding of urban growth. Instead of grouping (planning) competence cen­trally, the state border becomes a cooperation area that welcomes experimental housing concepts and creative city models and closely aligns these with the wishes and needs of the area’s residents. The smaller IBAs, summarised in one comprehensive exhibition, promote the necessary scrutiny of urban planners and architects via discussions with residents, focusing on important issues around this intermediate urban space. Emerging projects can examine current developments and generic suburban areas across Berlin’s borders and promote ideas and visions for new and exciting spaces and city blocks.

2070 – Urban Arcadia Berlin
Berlin has the unique opportunity to develop its border area by creating a compact band of natural spaces, new housing, and improving areas of single-­family homes. Over the last century, Berlin has experienced vast growth and strange phases of little or even negative growth. This both created and left a variety of special features that are still present on the city’s outskirts and which we are now to preserve and develop. Yet, in today’s urban discourse these areas are often ignored. We suggest reversing this trend and focusing our attention on this border area.
Residents on both sides of the border between Berlin and Brandenburg will become the new players who help determine the future of the metropolitan region. Berlin’s border area is to be deliberately ‘discovered’ and developed as a place of longing. The first step to this end is the exploration and understanding of the existing and the found. Furthermore, current issues and ­ideas must be purposefully formulated and implemented to strengthen and supplement, step by step, the outskirts’ qualities. The border area of Berlin is to be celebrated as a sequence of exciting identities and discovered as a space with great potential. The multitude of contributions and test areas will pose common questions. How does the Berlin metropolitan region wish and how is it able to grow here? Which qualities should be protected and strengthened? Should the outskirts function differently from the inner city, and, if so, which ­urban form is appropriate? And how will we live in new neighbourhoods that consist of both city and nature?

Our answer: definitely something different from the mission statement of the 1910 competition. These images refer to the attitude to life in Berlin and Brandenburg and build and expand on it. They give a positive boost to this region’s best attributes. Therefore, our proposal dispenses with detailed plans and replaces these with six strategic narratives that combine to form a grand scheme.

Model
The ‘star-shaped settlement model’ is Berlin’s current urban development plan. Yet, its structure does not do justice to the nature of the agglomeration area. Berlin was never a monocentric city. The surrounding area itself has proper centralities, to which one cannot do justice with the singular star template. We therefore propose the World Island of Berlin-Brandenburg as a new model. The original term coined by Alexander von Humboldt is no longer compatible with polycentric Berlin and the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds it. However, the concept is nonetheless deeply rooted in the region. The World Island is dynamic and makes room for new, even unforeseeable, centralities while strengthening existing centres. The World Island knows mass and emptiness, habitats, constellations, star dust, gravitation, and orbits, phenomena we have translated into Berlin-Brandenburg narratives.

100% City, 100% Countryside
West Berlin was long a major city without a hinterland. Open space was a scarce and protected commodity. The island location created extremes: high urban density within and emptiness and countryside beyond the border fence. Similar spatial constellations emerged in much of East Berlin as a result of socialist urban planning. Thus, Berlin and Brandenburg today have a unique relationship, which is a key quality of the region. It is not characterised by an endless suburban zone. This is where extraordinary extremes come together: 100 percent city here – high density, urban flair, and spaces dominated by people – and 100 percent countryside there – low density, nature, and rural areas.

Our suggestion: Unconsciously, the World Island has created a development strategy characterised by one hundred percent city and one hundred percent countryside. This dual nature allows it to ideally respond to future chal­lenges ranging from climate change and energy transition to the preservation of natu­ral habitats. It should not only be applied to the borders of the individual settlement centres, but also to the inner peripheries. Large open spaces should remain open: parks, fallow land, unused industrial sites, and old railway tracks. Berlin and the towns and villages surrounding it can densify inwards; space is available, it just needs to be used efficiently.

The Blue ArchipelagoBerlin is a city on the water, and Brandenburg is a water landscape. Both ­places make too little use of these qualities. There is no strong relationship between the two, because water only connects places and people if the ­spaces in which the water is embedded can be experienced and permit these connections.

Our suggestion: Strengthen and expand the waterway connections and networks between Berlin and the surrounding area. Berlin’s main arterial roads and axes should be modified to create new waterways. The new and existing waterways become the gateway to the Blue Archipelago through accompanying ecosystems and network of footpaths and bike paths. Water and the natural world punctuate Berlin and increase resilience. A public space is thus cre­ated in Berlin and it not only adds green-blue qualities to the city, but also gives Berliners access to the Brandenburg countryside.

The Constellations
Berlin would not be Berlin without Potsdam, Bernau, and Oranienburg; and Brandenburg would not be Brandenburg without Berlin in its midst. Since the rise of Berlin as a metropolis, this tension has defined local identities. A similarly tense relationship between districts and neighbourhoods can also be observed in Berlin itself. This ‘culture of differences’ is a positive quality of both Berlin and Brandenburg; it is characterised not only by local loyalties, but also by existing opportunities and their further development. Areas directly surrounding Berlin in particular can provide benefits to supplement Berlin.

Our suggestion: Create clusters that focus on these strengths: nature and culture, renewable raw materials and know-how. They are the elements of a new world of habitation, education, and production. Virtually and physically well-connected to regional transport paths, they offer what the larger, more established ‘star’ cannot. As open systems, they can develop into constellations of regional importance and serve as visible symbols of the World Island.

The New Sky over Berlin
Global climate change is largely caused by our consumption and use of fossil fuels, which will eventually run out. Cities must meet their energy and foodstuff needs differently, and not in distant places, but locally, in Brandenburg or even Berlin. No additional square metre should be paved over for this and as much open space as possible should have multiple uses.

Our suggestion: Most of the buildings in the World Island consist of one-fifth façade and a roof that is barely used. These roofs can be activated for energy and food production. Almost half of Berlin’s current electricity need could be generated by solar energy. Many of the flat roofs in Berlin could also be used as roof gardens for growing vegetables. Biogas could be stored in local storage balloons. Large power plants and supermarkets are being replaced by energy production networks and urban agricultural cooperatives. The new sky over Berlin would no longer be grey and barren, but green and verdant. In the areas around Berlin, the omnipresent former military bases can be converted into high-density production locations for food and energy. Their density and industrial scale could help them become ideal energy complexes of the post-fossil-fuel age.

As the city that is always becoming and never is, Berlin will never be truly finished. That is why Brandenburg will never be finished, either: it cannot be. This is true of the place itself and of its residents. They want to be heard and to have a say, to make a difference. They want to shape their city and their countryside. Everyone in Berlin and Brandenburg belongs to a ‘kiez’ (neighbourhood) and embodies that ‘kiez’ in some way. Thus, residents can play a more important, even decisive role in urban and regional development.

Our suggestion: The city and the region should be divided into macro and micro zones. The macro zones consist of essential features: large natural ­areas, main road networks, local transport, supply networks (unless they can be decentralised), and strategic industrial areas. The micro zones are the ­areas, neighbourhoods, villages. Local and regional governments are responsible for planning and maintaining the macro zones. The micro zones are governed by their residents with the help of a professional administration. The internet, cellular networks, and other modern technologies are used to involve all residents in the decision-making process. When neighbourhoods are autonomous, there is competition between the them, and their residents define their identity themselves: green, quiet, urban, business-friendly, or more ­socially inclined.

A colourful portrait of different gravitational zones for urban human coexistence in the World Island can emerge from the city of neighbourhoods and the countryside of villages and small towns. Construction-material cycles are associated with high energy consumption. Cement must be mixed, steel forged, and plastics synthesised. When a building is renovated or demolished, these materials migrate to landfill. Handling materials this way is neither sensible nor sustainable, and the scarcity of non-renewable raw materials already leads to thinking in material cycles and a shift towards renewable, and organic, raw materials. This also builds a new relationship between the urban metropolis of Berlin and its neighbouring Brandenburg.

Our suggestion: Establish regional raw-material cycles. Building materials for Berlin should no longer come from foreign lands but be produced regionally. In new, high-tech production facilities, local wood can become a house wall. Once produced, these and other components are catalogued in databases. They are no longer discarded; when they are not in use anymore, they can be stored until they can be implemented in another process, perhaps even more than once. This creates ‘material orbits’ which can continue to function with minimal energy and material expenditure once they are established.